


He Would Never

by hollyand



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Flashbacks, M/M, Memories, Mild Smut, POV Cullen Rutherford, Templar Carver Hawke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-17 01:36:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9298361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollyand/pseuds/hollyand
Summary: There was a reason Knight Captain Cullen stood against Meredith when she threatened Ser Carver’s brother.Gift for @starlinghawke on Tumblr.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [StarlingHawke (Bowm8935)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bowm8935/gifts).



> For StarlingHawke - I am so sorry this gift is so much later than promised! I've never written this pairing before, so I struggled, as you already know - plus I decided to try something different with the format and style. I hope it's OK!

He would never question the tenets of the Order. Of that one thing, Knight Captain Cullen was certain. A templar’s vows were for life, and a templar’s duty was never done.

And like any good soldier, Cullen would never have questioned his superior officer. The Knight Commander’s word was law, and the law was the Knight Commander. It was as simple as that.

So when Knight Commander Meredith gave the order to kill, rather than arrest, the Champion of Kirkwall, Cullen was the first man to join Ser Carver in standing against her.

***

_Late at night, the candle burned low. A knock at the door startled him._

_‘Enter.’_

_Ser Carver appeared, closing the door behind him, gently but firmly, and Cullen swallowed the lump that rose in his throat. He was beautiful. Enticing. And unattainable._

_‘Ser Carver.’ Cullen dragged a tired hand across his forehead as he spoke; he was always so tired. Despite the ungodly hour, he would still make time for this man. ‘What can I do for you.’_

_The young Knight Corporal put his hands behind his back, a soldier’s pose, and fixed him with his blue eyes. Cullen looked away; even in the dim, flickering candlelight, the sight of his face was far too much for him to handle right now, especially this close to bedtime, in his office._

_No. He would never allow himself to entertain these thoughts about Ser Carver. Fraternisation was forbidden in the Order. The life of a templar was to be given entirely in service to the Maker, and those were the vows Cullen had sworn._

_‘It’s been a hard day for all of us, Knight Captain. I thought I’d come and see how you were.’_

_No apologies, no preamble. Carver Hawke was always a straightforward man; it was what Cullen liked best about him._

_‘I’m… fine,’ Cullen eventually stammered out._

_‘Good,’ Carver replied, exhaling in relief. ‘Good.’_

_His gaze was intense, heated, and Cullen swallowed again. It did… things… to him that Cullen wished it wouldn’t, given their respective ranks in the Order; yet over the years the feelings had just got stronger._

_‘…Well,’ Cullen continued, as if the silence between them hadn’t happened, ‘I’m… as fine as I can be considering the – circumstances – the Order has found itself in recently. Which is not necessarily…’ He cleared his throat. ‘Anyway. It was very – thoughtful – to come and ask me, Knight Corporal. I shan’t keep you further.’_

_‘Anything I can do to… help, ser?’ Carver asked; and the look he gave him almost made Cullen think that maybe Carver knew exactly what his Knight Captain might want him to do to ‘help’._

_‘What kind of help did you have in mind?’_

_Oh, now he’d done it. He really shouldn’t have said that._

_The young Knight Corporal leaned over his desk, looking straight at him, dark fringe falling into his eyes; and Cullen could swear the temperature in his office had ramped up a few degrees. Carver’s voice was low, husky, raw._

_‘Anything. Ser.’_

_The look he gave him promised everything the blond Knight Captain wanted, and everything he didn’t. Cullen’s throat was dry, but he forced himself to speak._

_‘N–no. It would not be proper. It would not be – right.’_

_Ser Carver gave him a look that was far too knowing for a man of his rank, and Cullen attempted to gesture for him to leave. Resist me then, that look seemed to say; and Cullen wondered how much longer he would._

***

The Knight Commander had gone mad. There was no other word for it. The whisperings had been swirling for a while, but here, in the Gallows courtyard, Meredith was staring round at them all, wild-eyed; it was clear to everyone what Meredith had become.

‘I will be rewarded for what I’ve done here!’ she barked, and Cullen wasn’t even sure he could hear a note of sanity, of humanity, left in her voice anymore. ‘In this world, _and_ the next!’

In the ensuing silence, Cullen thought he could hear Ser Carver’s sharp intake of breath; and he knew, then and there what Ser Carver was going to do, what _he_ himself must do. No one spoke.

‘I have done nothing but perform my duty,’ Meredith continued to rant at the Champion, who stood, transfixed, like the rest of them. ‘What happens to you now is your own doing. You were never part of this Circle, and I tolerated that. But in defending them, you’ve chosen to share their fate.’

It was too much. Cullen had to step in.

‘Knight Commander,’ Cullen said. ‘I thought we intended to arrest the Champion.’

Meredith fixed her icy stare on him. ‘You will do as I command, Cullen.’

‘No,’ Cullen found himself saying. ‘I defended you when Thrask started whispering you were mad. But this is too far.’

‘I will not allow insubordination!’ Meredith shouted, drawing her sword at last; its dissonant song buzzed as the red lyrium within it glittered ominously. ‘We must stay true to our path!’

*** 

_Sweet blood of Andraste, the man didn’t even know the effect he had on him. Carver took one step forward, and then another, smirking all the way, and all Cullen could do was gulp. What was it he was feeling? Fear? Excitement? He didn’t even know anymore, it was enough to try not to watch the Knight Corporal as he trained in the yard every morning, dark hair plastered to his head, sweat dripping off his brow, determination in his blue eyes, the grim set of his jaw…_

_…let alone how Ser Carver was approaching him in his office now, tonight, while the world was asleep and he was very much awake, oh so awake._

_As templars, came a dim voice from the recesses of his memory, we must stay true to our path._

_Cullen knew what his path was now; it was the one that led to Ser Carver, to here, to tonight. And he would never stray from it._

_Carver removed his armour, piece by piece, and sweet Maker if it wasn’t the most exquisite thing, seeing that body reveal itself at last; Cullen would never be disappointed. He had dreamed about this moment often enough, and now Ser Carver was here, undressing, for his pleasure and his own, slowly and surely and seductively as he would._

_Finally, he stood, in the middle of the room, hard muscle illuminated by soft candlelight, the planes and slopes of his body on full display for Cullen to enjoy. Ser Carver was a broad man both in and out of his armour; every curve, every bulge, even the mabari tattoo he’d once showed him chimed with every wonderful dream Cullen had ever had about him._

_‘By the Maker,’ Cullen breathed. ‘You’re beautiful.’_

_The Knight Corporal smirked at him. ‘And tonight, ser,’ he said, blue eyes heated, intense, ‘you’re gonna be mine.’_  

*** 

‘You’ll have to go through me,’ Carver said, and there was not the faintest trace of fear in his voice or his stance.

Carver Hawke was always a better soldier than he. He would never have allowed Meredith to have got this far, if he were in his position – yet Cullen had, and his heart ached at the fact.

If Ser Carver was to defend the Champion, especially from the madness that Meredith had become, from the tatters she’d shredded the Order into – and even now, she would not step down – then Cullen would be there with him.

‘ _And_ me,’ Cullen finally said, unsheathing his sword, and standing firm beside his Knight Corporal.

 _This is not what the Order stands for_ , echoed Cullen’s words in his head, spoken only moments earlier when he attempted to relieve Meredith of her command.

‘Traitors! I’ll have both your heads!’ Meredith shouted; but not a single templar joined her.

***

_Hands, large and sword-calloused, slid over his bare skin, silently, reverently. Cullen stifled a groan lest anyone else in the Gallows hear, yet Carver simply chuckled at his restraint, and dipped his head._

_The way he kissed, the way he held him, as if he was the most precious being the Maker had ever brought into existence… it was hard, Cullen thought, hard to resist this man as he’d resisted him for so long; hard not to sweep everything off his desk when Ser Carver walked in and allow himself to be taken by the other man, there and then, on the tabletop._

_Resistance was futile tonight; the red candles flickered and wavered in a way Ser Carver’s intent never did, his hands roaming everywhere, his cool gaze roving over his body, and Cullen let out a strangled cry as Ser Carver’s tongue tasted, teased, swiped – and oh, how Cullen wanted more, needed more, needed everything. His eyes were hungry, and Cullen could smell the sweat on his clean skin, and the desire within him burned hot._

_Cullen knew one thing to be true. He would never come for anyone else._

_Deft fingers that Cullen had seen gripping a two-handed sword played across his torso, travelling lower, lower, circling the entrance they were preparing to make entry to; for tonight he belonged utterly and totally to Ser Carver._

_‘Come for me,’ Carver commanded; and Cullen arched his back and came, once, twice, a third time, before collapsing in the dark-haired man’s arms, sated, blissful, revelling in the post-coital afterglow._

***

He would never question the tenets of the Order. But Meredith was no longer the Order, and Ser Carver was still his love.  
  
  



End file.
